"Green River" Collaboration: Jacutinga do Caparaó (Brazil) and Catfarm Community (France)

Water resiliency held a central theme in the youth-focused educational collaboration between these two communities, a partnership called Green Rivers. Members from Jacutinga applied their learning from an online course with Plant’agua association in Brazil, collaborating with 10 learners. They visited a local water planting school for inspiration and observed the terrains to develop locally relevant solutions that will guide them for the next 15 years. The results are already felt today, based on making slopes and rainwater collectors (with a 1000 liter capacity) which has changed life in the community. Partners from Catfarm hosted a permaculture Youth exchange together with one member from Jacutinga who was holding agro-forestry & zero waste workshops there on the ground in France. It also included a showcase of their “Cacha Chuva” technique which collects rainwater in remote places while talking about water resiliency. Through their exchange, both twins got inspired by each other and learned about new techniques. At Catfarm, they got inspired by a permaculture principle Jacutinga is using to split their land in equal parts for human zones, agricultural zones and biodiversity zones while for for Jacutinga the Youth exchange was very inspiring, to see a permaculture course with people from all over the world, and to imagine it happening on their land as well. Jacutinga was also inspired to see how Catfarm manages to supply energy with its solarpanels as well as to collect rainwater in such a dry place. Strong and meaningful relationships were established and there are future plans to collaborate on other projects to exchange knowledge on energy and architecture. The intention is to showcase the results of these ongoing projects on their social media channels. – Jacutinga do Caparaó – Founded in 2017 and located Caparaó region, in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil, Jacutinga do Caparaó is home to 14 families. They are agroforesting an area of 6 hectares and have the intention to create a permacultural school. Seeing themselves as inseparable part of the whole existence they share the idea that it is necessary to regenerate many ecosystems that are now out of balance. – The Catfarm Community is an off-grid community of travelers, (digital) nomads, artists, healers, entrepreneurs, and purpose-driven people with the will to explore an alternative lifestyle closer to nature. Armed with old knowledge, instant communication, miraculous technology, and sheer strength of will, they hope to inspire all social classes to switch to a more respectful way of living in this high-speed changing world. Twinning

For Ecovillages, eco-projects, regional and national ecovillage networks

For years there has been the practice of “twinning” within GEN, where ecovillages, eco-projects, and ecovillage networks form special friendships and support each other. Over time, these friendships solidify and evolve into mutually beneficial relationships. We now have wonderful examples of twinning relationships in GEN and are excited to streamline the twinning so more projects are able to find and support each other. GEN is now supporting twinning relationships in a more systematic way, as a ‘dating agency’. When possible, we try to provide modest funds to support collaborative projects. Know more in the Twinning page.

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